The NHS has launched a nationwide campaign to attract more young people into nursing and boost the numbers of nurses within the NHS.
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The campaign, which will see TV and radio adverts, as well as social media posts, cost £8m and was funded by NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care.
It will highlight nursing as a profession, with a particular focus on key areas such as general practice, community nursing and mental health nursing, and will target primary school children aged 14-18.
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As well as increasing the total number of applications to the NHS by 22,000, the campaign will also aim to ‘double the number of nurses returning to practice’ and improve retention of staff.
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said he hoped the campaign would ‘inspire people to take up a career in the NHS and boost the number of homegrown nurses and midwives’, while chief nursing officer for England Professor Jane Cummings said the campaign would encourage young people to ‘come and work for the NHS and have a rewarding and fulfilling career that makes a real difference.’
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Alongside this campaign, NHS England are working with nursing and midwifery ‘ambassadors’ to help change the perception of nursing, and encourage the public to see nursing as a ‘career of choice’.
